The suicide rate among middle-aged Americans increased significantly from 2005 to 2010, and a new study in the July issue of American Journal of Public Health associates that spike with the recent foreclosure crisis.

There has been a lot of research on the relationship between suicide rates and economic ups and downs, but the focus on foreclosure and suicide differentiates this study. Using data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, RealtyTrac foreclosure reports and the American Community Survey (conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau), researchers Jason N. Houle and Michael T. Light compared changes in foreclosure and suicide rates from 2005 to 2010 in the 50 states and District of Columbia. They divided the adult population into four age categories (18 to 29, 30 to 45, 46 to 64 and 65 and older) and examined the trends in the different groups.

In that time, the suicide rate among 46- to 64-year-olds increased 25 percent -- from 18.5 to about 23 suicides per 100,000 residents -- which coincided with a five-percentage-point increase in home foreclosures.

Fundamental Differences

"We know this recession was fundamentally different than the [previous] ones," said Houle, a sociology professor at Dartmouth College. The collapse of the housing market and the global impact made the recession much more than an employment crisis, he said. The unemployment rate nearly doubled from 2007 to 2010, but the number of homes in foreclosure quadrupled, from 680,000 to 2.9 million. "We definitely did our best to account for other factors in the recession."

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Suicide prevention efforts have historically been geared toward youths and senior citizens because of the higher suicide rates in those populations, according to the CDC, but suicide among the middle-aged has surged and surpassed that of senior citizens in recent years. Skyrocketing foreclosure rates seem to have played a part, according to Houle and Light's research.

Foreclosure certainly isn't the whole story, but the significant shift in suicide rates among middle-aged Americans makes sense in the context of homeownership. "There's a lot of homeowners in this age group," Houle said. "They're really gearing up for retirement. ... For these people either losing their home or losing equity in their home when they're gearing up for this big life stage, they don't really have time to recuperate from that."

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roselace14

A house is just a pile of bricks and/or boards. Anyone who would commit suicide, because they experienced a foreclosure, undoubtedly had mental issues.

These are tough times for most of us. Unemployment can be a soul-destroying event. People, who are long-term unemployed, tend to slide into depression and hopelessness. When you have lost all hope that anything in your personal situation is ever going to get better, you are no longer thinking rationally.

Suicide is a very permanent choice in response to what may well be temporary problems. We have experienced recessions and depressions before. They always end. Sitting around and telling yourself that "life will be this awful, forever" is a mistake.